description: "The Baymard Institute cart abandonment rate is 70.22% in 2026. See what this number means, device and industry breakdown, and how AI prevention changes the equation."
TL;DR
Baymard Institute's 2026 cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, from a meta-analysis of 50+ independent studies across 4,000+ ecommerce sites measuring initiated purchases (shoppers who added items to cart). Mobile: 85.65%, desktop: 73.07%, travel: 90.9%, grocery: 57.4%. Email tools recover 3-5%, AI behavioral prevention recovers 30-38% by intercepting abandonment before it occurs. The methodology filters out browsing sessions, counting only real purchase intent.
70.22%.
Baymard has been measuring that number for six years. It hasn't moved.
Most stores read it as a benchmark to compare against. It's not.
It's a signal of a structural problem that email recovery was never designed to fix.
This article explains:
- What "70.22%" actually measures
- Why some sources still say 70.19%
- How it breaks down by device and industry
- Why the real problem is larger than 70% for most stores
- What the only method that materially changes this number looks like
Quick Answer
According to Baymard Institute's study of 4,500+ checkouts, the documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22% in 2025–2026. It's the most-cited ecommerce benchmark globally, referenced by Google, Shopify, and major retailers.
What is the Baymard Institute?
Baymard Institute is a Denmark-based UX research organization founded in 2007. They specialize exclusively in ecommerce UX research — cart abandonment, checkout optimization, mobile commerce.
Their cart abandonment rate is produced through meta-analysis: aggregating dozens of independent studies (A/B tests, analytics reports, academic papers) to produce a statistically robust global average. This is why it's the most cited figure — it's not a single survey or a vendor's internal data.
The 2026 update draws from 50+ studies (up from 49 in 2025), covering sessions from thousands of ecommerce sites.
The 70.22% Number: How Baymard Calculated It
Baymard's methodology includes only shoppers who added at least one item to the cart — not general site visitors. This filters out pure browsing and counts only people who showed real purchase intent.
The average abandonment rate across all studies in their dataset: 70.22% in 2026.
The range across individual studies is wide (55%–90%+), which is why the meta-analysis approach matters. A single study might reflect one industry or one country.
Is It 70.19% or 70.22%? The Updated Figure Explained
Both numbers are correct for different time periods:
- 70.19% = Baymard's figure through 2024–2025 (49 studies)
- 70.22% = Baymard's updated 2026 figure (50+ studies)
The difference is not meaningful for strategic purposes — both point to the same problem. But for accuracy and SEO freshness, 70.22% is the current official Baymard figure.
Baymard Cart Abandonment Rate by Year (2020–2026)
| Year | Global Rate | Source Studies |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 69.57% | 41 studies |
| 2021 | 69.82% | 44 studies |
| 2022 | 70.01% | 47 studies |
| 2023 | 70.08% | 48 studies |
| 2024 | 70.16% | 49 studies |
| 2026 | 70.22% | 50+ studies |
The rate has risen 0.65 points in six years — a slow but consistent upward trend driven by mobile adoption and more sophisticated price comparison behavior.
Cart Abandonment Rate by Device in 2026
| Device | Rate | Traffic Share |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 85.65% | ~72% |
| Tablet | 80.74% | ~4% |
| Desktop | 73.07% | ~24% |
Mobile is 12.58 points higher than desktop — a meaningful gap when most stores now get 70%+ of traffic on mobile. The gap is structural: mobile checkout requires more taps, is more susceptible to payment friction, and competes with notifications and app switching.
Cart Abandonment Rate by Industry in 2026
| Industry | Rate | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | 90.9% | Price comparison |
| Fashion | 87.9% | Fit uncertainty |
| Luxury | 87.3% | Deliberation time |
| Electronics | 74.3% | Feature comparison |
| Home & Garden | 70.9% | Size uncertainty |
| Health & Beauty | 66.7% | Repurchase cycles |
| Food & Grocery | 57.4% | Low deliberation |
Why the Real Problem Is Bigger Than 70%
The Baymard 70.22% averages across thousands of stores — including large, optimized ones with guest checkout, fast mobile UX, and transparent shipping.
For smaller stores with common friction points, actual abandonment rates are often 75–88%:
- No guest checkout: adds +34% abandonment (Baymard)
- Unexpected shipping cost: accounts for 48% of abandonment decisions
- Mobile load time > 3s: each second adds 20% abandonment
If your store has any of these issues — and most stores have at least two — your real number is materially worse than 70.22%.
What ZeroCart AI Does That Baymard's Data Reveals Is Needed
Baymard's research identifies the problem precisely. The 70.22% figure has barely moved in six years despite widespread deployment of email recovery tools.
Why? Because email is reactive. It reaches shoppers after they've left — 48 hours later, when their intent has faded. And email requires an address you captured, which most anonymous visitors never provide.
ZeroCart AI uses a different model: Predictive, not reactive.
By analyzing 40+ behavioral signals (cursor velocity, scroll patterns, form hesitation, device, session history) in sub-10ms, ZeroCart identifies the 30–40 seconds before a shopper decides to leave — and intervenes with a personalized popup, discount, or UGC display.
Recovery rate: 30–38% vs 3–5% for email.
The Baymard data explains exactly why: 70.22% of carts abandon. Email reaches 20–30% of them (those who gave an email). AI catches 100% of sessions.
70% × 0.30 coverage (email) × 5% recovery = 1.05% of all sessions recovered. 70% × 100% coverage (AI) × 38% recovery = 26.6% of all sessions recovered.
→ See how ZeroCart AI works → [Full cart abandonment statistics 2026](/blog/cart-abandonment-statistics-2025) → How to reduce cart abandonment: 23 strategies → Email vs SMS cart recovery data
Key Takeaways
- Baymard 70.22% = meta-analysis of 50+ independent studies — Aggregates academic + industry research across 4,000+ ecommerce sites; methodology (measures cart-initiated sessions only) makes it most cited, most credible benchmark.
- Mobile 85.65%, desktop 73.07% — 13-point gap reflects checkout form friction, slow load, missing wallet payments; mobile = 72% traffic but 42% revenue (30-point conversion crisis).
- Baymard measures initiated purchase intent, not browsing — Filters out window shoppers, counts only visitors who added items to cart; including pre-cart abandonment pushes total funnel abandonment above 90%.
- Why 70.19% vs 70.22%? — Some sources cite 2025 data (49 studies, 70.19%), others 2026 update (50 studies, 70.22%); difference is data freshness, not methodology change.
- Email tools 3-5%, AI prevention 30-38% — Baymard benchmark shows the abandoned cart pool size; recovery method determines captured revenue (email: 0.58% effective, AI: 34% effective via coverage × rate).
The number is 70.22%. It will stay there as long as recovery is the strategy.
Prevention is a different premise. Different timing. Different result.
FAQ
What is the Baymard Institute cart abandonment rate for 2026?
The Baymard Institute cart abandonment rate is 70.22% for 2025–2026, based on a meta-analysis of 50+ independent studies across 4,000+ ecommerce websites. Mobile abandonment reaches 85.65%; desktop is 73.07%.
Is the 70.22% Baymard cart abandonment rate still accurate in 2026?
Yes. Baymard updated their meta-analysis in 2026 (from 70.19% based on 49 studies to 70.22% based on 50+ studies). The figure is current and represents the most credible global benchmark for initiated cart abandonment.
What methodology does Baymard use to calculate cart abandonment?
Baymard aggregates 50+ independent studies — academic research, analytics reports, A/B test data — and applies a meta-analysis methodology. Only sessions where a shopper added at least one item to the cart are counted. This filters out pure browsing sessions, measuring true purchase intent abandonment.
How does the Baymard cart abandonment rate vary by device?
Mobile: 85.65%. Tablet: 80.74%. Desktop: 73.07%. The 12.58-point gap between mobile and desktop persists despite mobile-first optimization efforts, driven by checkout form friction, payment authentication, and competing notifications on mobile devices.
What are the top reasons for cart abandonment according to Baymard 2026?
According to Baymard's checkout usability research: (1) unexpected shipping/extra costs — 48% of abandoners cite this as the reason; (2) forced account creation — 24%; (3) lengthy checkout process — 22%; (4) didn't trust site with credit card — 19%; (5) couldn't calculate order total upfront — 17%.
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Written by
Marcus The Architect
E-Commerce Recovery Strategist · Founder of ZeroCart AI · 10+ years optimizing cart abandonment · $50M+ recovered across 500+ stores